Pics: Accidents in India

This is a discussion on Pics: Accidents in India within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Originally Posted by skanchan95
The incident that selfdrive has mentioned happened with me. In December 2010 (just over a year ...

The incident that selfdrive has mentioned happened with me. In December 2010 (just over a year after purchasing the car), the steering of my i20 suddenly became rock hard in the middle of traffic, not once but twice, all this when the car was in motion. I was lucky that the car was slow and I was able to bring the car to a stop safely.

Thanks for the clarification, missed your thread somehow. This seems to be a serious issue. One question; was it an electrical failure (the power steering motor cutting off) or something like a mechanical lock up?

Till now I always had to remind the passengers in my car to wear there seat belts. But since I have bought the Altis which has the seat belt alarm system its become so much more convenient. People now are amused and themselves wear the belt either in appreciation of the system or due to the irritation it causes. I sincerely feel it should be made mandatory in all cars and should be introduced for even the back seat passengers.

Yes, it would be good if the warning system is made mandatory. But some manufacturers who used to put such warning systems have stopped doing so of late. Example: Volkswagen. In my family friend circle one family has a previous gen Jetta which has this warning system but another family has sept 2011 Vento which doesn't have the system.

Thanks for the clarification, missed your thread somehow. This seems to be a serious issue. One question; was it an electrical failure (the power steering motor cutting off) or something like a mechanical lock up?

I have no idea what caused it. The steering had not locked up. The engine was on, running quite normally(as is evident from the pictures of the instrument console). It felt as if there was no power assist. Just to turn the steering wheel required huge amounts of effort (those who have driven an i20 would know how light the steering is).

When the steering had become hard(EPS light too had come on) for the first time that evening, shutting the engine down after stopping and restarting it seemed to have taken care of the problem as the steering seemed to have become normal again. Within minutes of this, the steering became hard again again. I again shut the engine down after stopping, it became normal again after restart. BY this time, I had almost reached home. I parked the car in the porch. I remember I was so furious and shocked that after I reached home, I did not speak a word to anyone at home. Went straight to my computer desk and shot off that e-mail to Hyundai. Just two or three days before this incident, I had driven to Rajkot with my dad for his medical check up. This too was playing on my mind, what if the steering had malfunctioned that day on the highway.

Regarding how it got it rectified, well, for a month I did not touch the vehicle , hoping Hyundai would be sensible enough to send someone home technically qualified to check this very serious problem. As mentioned before, Hyundai took the incident very lightly and I was asked to drive the car as it is to the workshop(nearest of which was 90 kms away). I simply asked them who shall be responsible if something goes wrong with the car and if it results in an accident on the way? No answer from Hyundai.

After nearly a month after this incident, with no help from Hyundai forthcoming, I was able to get the car back on the road, thanks to a fellow Team bhp follower. Post here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post2202169. Since then, EPS malfunction has not recurred and hope it stays that way. The car is running on four wheels and a prayer!!!!

The steering malfunction was after quite a long troubled history of steering rattle fixes being attempted on the car( the steering rack/column was opened many times, the steering rack was replaced twice in the car in the name of "fixing" the issue). Hyundai's irresponsible attitude when this incident occured and the car's irrepairable steering rattle issue made us file a case in the consumer court against them.

Hyundai's great minds never realised that the steering is a critical component of the car and it is not supposed to rattle like how it does in the i20. It can malfunction(as in my case) thanks to the poor design. I was lucky enough to get away that day, but some poor i20 owner may not be quite so lucky if God forbid, the incident repeats itself in his/her i20. I do pray that Hyundai's pathetic mistake does not cost someone broken bones or worse, his/her life.

@ skanchan95 - Normally all electronic power steering systems cutoff assistance above a particular speed. I don't know what the limit is for the i20, but on the Swift this limit is 60kmph. In a Swift and most other Suzuki vehicles if the car is above 60kmph there is no assist from the power steering system. It is running on manual mode, because at those speeds it does not require much effort to steer the car.

And after reading your post above it is clear that the failure in your case was electronic and not mechanical. If it was mechanical, the steering would have completely jammed up or you would have lost complete steering (steering wheel would turn but your car would not react) and you would not have been able to steer at all. So on your trip with you dad you would not have realized this problem at highway speeds and would have driven normally.

So my advice to your is to enjoy your driving experience and don't let this on incident spoil that fun.

Tippers are on the rampage in Kerala again. Yesterday a two wheeler driver was crushed to death at Kottayam and on the day before that, a 11 year old student got killed near vaikom.
In spite of all this, I saw a tipper lorry speeding at above 80KMPH in the Ernakulam Thalayolaparambu stretch this morning. That tipper was comparatively a new one and it clearly shows that the mandatory speed governor is either not installed or is bypassed.

Any details on this one? Happened mid night in South Delhi. 3 students dead with one guy beheaded and two others heads badly crushed. Driver apparently is alive. RIP poor souls.

Happened near saket, citywalk apparently.
high spped figures are floating around.
what IS confirmed is that he apparently drove into a bus parking lot, and slammed into one(pun).
in that case:
1. his fault for driving at such speeds, on what essentially, is a 2-3 lane road.
2. how much money is being pocketed by someone to allow a bus to be parked on a main road?

@ skanchan95 - Normally all electronic power steering systems cutoff assistance above a particular speed. I don't know what the limit is for the i20, but on the Swift this limit is 60kmph. In a Swift and most other Suzuki vehicles if the car is above 60kmph there is no assist from the power steering system. It is running on manual mode, because at those speeds it does not require much effort to steer the car.]

Even if we assume that the EPS cut off automatically, why did the EPS warning light come on immediately after the steering became rock hard? Had it not been a malfunction, the EPS light should not have come on. The steering became rock hard(both times) after I heard a "click" sound from the steering column area. I am dead sure it wasn't the "normal" EPS cutting off.

At the time of the incident, I was within city limits, may be doing 35-40 kmph. The steering surely is not supposed to become rock hard at those speeds. It remained rock hard even after coming to a complete stop, it wasn't normal, whichever way one looks at it. Only restarting the engine seemed to correct the steering. Has anyone ever tried steering a car with the engine off? That's how hard the steering wheel felt that day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SumitBahl

Here is what today's newspaper says:
RIP poor souls!!!

Sad. The driver was drunk, hookah found in the car(drugs?), driving at breakneck speeds, overtaking from the left(driving rashly) - Recipe for a disaster.

Last edited by skanchan95 : 14th March 2012 at 19:27.
Reason: Quoting another post.

A 5-member Malayalee family has perished in a road accident at Hosur near Bangalore. They are: Umadevi (56), her daughter Divya (26), Uma's niece Aarti (26), husband Rajesh (30) and their daughter Aghna (1.5).

The car they were travelling collided with a tipper lorry on the Sulagiri bypass at 5:30 AM. The lorry was going to Krishnagiri.

The car was crushed beyond recognition. All five died on the spot. Locals and police transferred the dead bodies to Government Hospital, Sulagiri. Relatives have started for Sulagiri after learning of the accident.